Grab a Cup of Tea and Come Relax with Me

Monsoon Time

I don’t know if you know this but here on the South Coast of British Columbia we get a lot of rain at this time of year. Right before Easter we always get quite heavy rains, but even we are not used to the stuff we have been getting. As you can see by the picture above, it looks like monsoon season has arrived, although it was twice as bad when I decided to take the picture than it was by the time I got the camera set up.

Rain is something that is a necessary evil here, if you want to have the rainforest and the green around you, you have to put up with the rain. We generally shake it off and put it down to one of the inconveniences of living in this area. Hawkeye hates the rain and I always wonder, “Why do we live here?” The answer is always the same “Where else can we have the quality of life that we do?” By quality of life I mean, we have the best water in the world here, we have the rain forest practically at our back door, we have some of the mildest weather anywhere, no extremes of heat and cold, and we have some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see.

At the beach

Mountain Valley

In the springtime, you can literally ski in the morning and be on the beach in the afternoon. The Rocky Mountains separate us from the rest of Canada but they also provide some of the most spectacular scenery.

Unfortunately, in the early spring our heavy downpours often come with crazy winds as well. We have had some windstorms this past week, that we usually only see in November. It was so bad that one lady was killed when the winds brought down a tree on top of her house and it smashed into the bedroom where she was sleeping. We’ve been told to expect thunderstorms tonight, which are unusual for us at this time, we don’t usually see those until April. And, of course, ours are nothing like what they get in the Prairies or in the Midwest of the United States.

I really can’t imagine living anywhere else, although if we win the lottery some day, I might decide to buy a place on the beach in Hawaii or in The Caribbean. LOL.

Now for today’s recipe: HUMDINGER CHICKEN WITH BEETS AND CREAMY NOODLES

This recipe is really a take off from one that is in one of my favourite cookbooks, it is called The Looney Spoons Collection and was written by Janet & Greta Podleski, you may have seen them on their show on the Food Network, Eat, Shrink and be Merry. Although that is Food Network Canada, so maybe you haven’t. Anyway here goes:

INGREDIENTS

12-18 Chicken Thighs

1/4 Cup Honey

2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tbsp grainy mustard

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp ea. rosemary, thyme, basil and sage ( the book calls for Herbs de Provence, but I don’t have that so I just kind of made up my own mix)

Salt & Pepper

2 cans whole beets

1 onion

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 pkg broad egg noodles

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 Cup sour cream

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400

Put chicken in a 9 x 13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray

In a bowl mix together the honey, apple cider vinegar, mustard, garlic and herbs

Spoon the mixture over the chicken

Open the beets and drain the liquid.

Peel and chop the onion into roughly one inch chunks

In another baking dish pace the beets, onions and thyme

Put both the chicken and the beets into the oven for half an hour

After half an hour, pull the chicken out and baste with the juices n the pan, put the chicken back in the oven for another twenty minutes.

Fill a large pot with water and bring to the boil.

In a bowl combine the mushroom soup and the sour cream.

After you have pulled the chicken out scoop at least a cup of the juice out of the pan and mix with the soup and sour cream mixture.

Cover both the beets and the chicken with tin foil to keep warm while waaiting for the noodles.

Egg noodles do not take very long so, do not put them in until you have pulled the chicken and the beets out.

Boil the egg noodles for about 4 minutes, then drain and out back in the pot. Pour the soup & sour cream mixture over the noodles and stir to combine.

Drizzle honey over the beets and onions and shake pan to coat.

Dish out and eat.

As you can see the dinner was very good. I served it with buns (I did warn you about my bread fetish) and green salad. Even though it looks like you spent a lot of time doing a bunch of stuff, it’s really very simple. Also, I know that I told you that I very rarely use prepared products, well, when a recipe calls for mushroom soup, I don’t make my own just to use, I take a little help from that well known manufacturer.

I hope you will give this one a try, believe me it tastes yummy.

Have a great weekend and I will talk to you on Tuesday.

Oh, and once again, please leave me a comment, if you do try this one out, let me know what you think of it. And once again, if you email me (my email address is at the side), I will send you a little booklet with 5 recipes and the grocery list for them.

Bye for now.

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About Barojenty

I am a 59-year-old Wife and Mother to two adult children that I am extremely proud of. They turned out to be wonderful human beings and lucky me, I still have one at home.
I am a Badass cook, a Mum to a three-year-old Dachshund male named Willie and a almost one-year-old Dashchund female named Bailey. I have a chronic illness that prevents me from working outside my home. I love taking care of my home and family and even though I need help from hubby now and then I try not to let my illness keep me from doing anything I want.